Qu'est Ce Que

You might be a beginner or have been learning French for a while and you’re still unsure about the correct French interrogative expression for ‘what’ or ‘which’. Que, quoi, quel(s), quelle(s) or qu’est-ce que (qui) ? Which one should you use?

1. Qu'est Ce Que C'est
2. Qu'est Ce Que La Philosophie
3. Qu'est Ce Que Le Marketing
4. Qu'est Ce Que La Culture
5. Qu'est Ce Que Tu Aimes Faire In English
6. Qu'est Ce Que La

Need to translate 'qu'est-ce que' from French? Here's what it means. Listen to the audio pronunciation of qu'est-ce que c'est on pronouncekiwi. Sign in to disable ALL ads. Thank you for helping build the largest language community on. Qu'est-ce qui & Qu'est-ce que both mean What, but when to use which? Whenever the element (person, thing.) is the subject! Meaning it's doing the action, you use the qui (Qu'est-ce qui.) and whenever the element is the object and something is being done to it, you use que (Qu'est-ce que.) An example of qui: - Qu'est-ce qui fait ce.

Let’s try to clarify…
When ‘what’ precedes a noun, you need to use the interrogative adjective quel or quelle (f) in front of the noun. Quel(le) can be used with the inversion construction form or with est-ce que to make the question:

Quel animal vois-tu ? = Which/what animal do you see?

Quel animal est-ce que tu vois ? = Which/what animal do you see?

Quel(le) will also be used directly with the verb être (to be).

Quelle est votre destination ? = What is your destination? (Note that it is still an interrogative adjective and must agree with the noun).

Quel(le) can also be used as an exclamatory adjective – used for emphasis. In this instance, quel(le) is again followed by a noun and another adjective can also be used for further emphasis. Used this way it means ‘what’ or ‘what a’. Note that there is an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence:

Quelle histoire ! = What a story!

Quel bel homme ! = What a handsome man!

Que and its longer form qu’est-ce que are interrogative pronouns and are used as direct objects in a sentence. They are used to ask questions about things. As the object of a question, que may be followed by either inversion or with est-ce que.

Que préfères-tu ? = What do you prefer?

Qu’est-ce que tu préfères ? = What do you prefer?

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Qu'est Ce Que C'est

Note:

A straight and simplified translation of ‘what do’ is qu’est-ce que…

The alternate form qu’est-ce qui is used when the “what” of your question is the subject of the sentence.

Qu’est-ce qui arrive ? = What’s going on, What’s happening?

Qu’est-ce qui fait le plus peur aux enfants ? = What is it that frightens children the most?

Use quoi when you have a preposition involved (à, de, dans, etc..) and the question can be formed either with inversion or with est-ce que.

A quoi pensez-vous ? = What are you thinking about?

Dans quoi mettez-vous le pain ? = What do you put the bread in?

De qui parlez-vous ? = Who(m) are you talking about?

Quoi can also be used for informal questions.

Tu fais quoi ? = You’re doing what? (instead of Qu’est-ce que tu fais ?)

Tu aimes quoi ? = You like what?

Be careful when “what” joins two clauses. In such cases, it is a relative pronoun and is used when whatever you are talking about is indefinite or uncertain. Do not use one of the above interrogatives, but use ce que, ce qui.

Qu'est Ce Que La Philosophie

Je ne comprends pas ce qu’il dit ! = I don’t understand what he is saying!

Ce matin j’ai appris ce qui m’empêchait de dormir la nuit. = This morning I discovered what was preventing me from sleeping at night.

Qu'est Ce Que Le Marketing

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Essential French Expression

Qu'est Ce Que La Culture

Usage notes:Est-ce que is unique among French expressions in that it doesn’t actually mean anything – it’s just a way of turning a statement into a question, kind of like the word 'do' in English. The difference is that the word order changes when asking a question with 'do,' whereas in French, it stays exactly the same, with est-ce que placed directly in front of the statement.

Est-ce que is the inversion of c’est que, literally, “it is that.” Hence the hyphen between est and ce: c’est = ce + est is inverted to est-ce.

Though est-ce que is widespread in spoken French, it’s much less common in writing because it’s slightly informal. Remember that if you’re in a formal situation, you should avoid it in favor of inversion.

Par exemple…

As always, quecontracts to qu’ when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel.

Qu'est Ce Que Tu Aimes Faire In English

Par exemple…

So far, these have all been yes/no questions. WH questions (which ask for information like “who” and “how”) are a bit different: they need an interrogatory pronoun, adverb, or adjective before est-ce que:

Par exemple…

Qu'est Ce Que La

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